Oral Cancer ScreeningTigard, OR

Oral cancer is a lot more prevalent than most people realize. Almost 50,000 people find themselves facing an oral cancer diagnosis each year. If you are diagnosed early, your treatment is far more likely to be effective over those who do not see the dentist regularly and take longer to get diagnosed. At our offices, we do oral cancer screenings with each cleaning and exam that we do. If you are worried about your risk of oral cancer, let Dr. Lisa Gitelson, and the rest of us here help calm your fears.

Where Does Oral Cancer Show Up?

Many people think that oral cancer is just the tongue, cheeks, and gums. However, there are more places that oral cancer can rear its ugly head. You need to be looking all around your oral cavity. This can include the roof of your mouth, including your hard palate, the lining of your cheeks, your gums, the entirety of your tongue, even down into your throat, your lips, the floor of your mouth, and even the top part of your throat.

How Do We Screen for Oral Cancer?

When we first see you, we always go over your health history. We talk about what types of ailments you have personally gone through, and what ailments your family members have also gone through. Those who have a history of any mouth or throat cancer are looked at even more in-depth to try and catch the symptoms as early as possible. We inspect your jaw, neck, and mouth visually during this screening, and make a note of anything that’s even slightly off within your mouth. We make those notes so that we can keep checking those areas on future visits to watch for any changes.

Signs You Need to Make Sure You Talk to Us About

If you notice any of these signs that don’t go away on their own in about a two-week span, call us at (503) 985-8945. We can get you in and take a look to make sure it’s nothing to be concerned about.

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Sores that do not seem to go away

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White and red patches on the inside of your mouth

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Numbness on your lips or in your mouth, especially if accompanied with pain or tenderness

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Thicker areas of skin, lumps, or crusty areas within your mouth

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Trouble chewing, speaking, swallowing, or moving any part of your mouth

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Bite changes where your teeth do not fit together properly

Smokers, along with those that drink excessive amounts of alcohol, are at a higher risk of oral cancer, as are those over 50. If you believe you are at higher risk of developing oral cancer or are seeing signs of a developing problem, come in and see us. We can look around your mouth and make sure that everything looks healthy. If we see any signs of a problem, we can discuss what happens next to get the problem checked out and treated. You don’t have to worry about facing oral cancer alone. We will do everything we can to help catch it as early as possible.